Thimphu, 15 December 2022: The report, “Bhutan Workforce Futures: Stepping Stones to Industrial Strategic Propositions for the Agriculture, Creative and Digital Sector”, released today, explores future skills needs in Bhutan's creative, agriculture and digital sectors in the context of changing nature of work, workplace and workforce.

Using strategic foresight tools and methods, the report presents two complementary scenarios- one inwardly focused and the other outwardly focused- for each sector for the next five (immediate future), 10 (near future) and 15 (far future) years and charts skills, capacity and knowledge needs to realise the proposed scenarios. For instance, digital and financial literacy, smart irrigation and digital agricultural platform are some of the inwardly focused skills that will be in demand in the immediate future in the agriculture sector. In the creative sector, intellectual property rights protection capacity, animation skills, crowdfunding and data analysis are among the immediate outwardly focused skills needs. And in the digital sector, cyber security literacy, digital ethics, data interoperability and design thinking are some of the inwardly focused skills that would be in demand in the immediate future.

Soft skills, such as effective communication, critical thinking, negotiation skills, emotional intelligence, empathy and stress management, are crosscutting and will be required in the immediate, near and far future. In line with these, the report highlights interventions, including experiments and pilots, to drive future workforce supply and job growth.

The study was carried out as part of ongoing efforts to tackle the challenge of youth unemployment. It builds on the earlier report by the Ministry of Labour and Resources (MoLHR) and UNDP on Digital Jobs in Bhutan and stresses the importance of addressing youth unemployment through a systems approach.